Setting- The Grapes of Wrath

There was a rough patch that hit in the nineteen thirties and that is where the Dust Bowl came into play. This novel reflects history because during the nineteen thirties there was a huge drought which was called the Dust Bowl. People would leave their homes and head out to California. This novel shows a family that is going through this drought. Tom Joad is a farmer and a big drought does not help with all of his crops. The behavior of this time was sort of like a depression. People did not really feel like doing things or it was very quiet during this time mostly because of all the people leaving their homes to head into California. The social issues of this time were very bad. People fleeing homes to head into California, or people just staying at home and just starve to death. When Hemingway says, "She gazed at him, and she closed her eyes slowly. "Funny ain't it. All the time we was a-movin' an' shovin', I never thought none. An' now these here folks been nice to me, been awful nice; an' what's the first thing I do? I go back over the sad things-- that night Grampa died an' we buried him. I was all full up of the road, and bumpin' and movin', an' it was'nt so bad. But I come out here, an' it's worse now" (Steinbeck 322). This quote shows all the hard decisions they had to make during this tough time. People would look over the sad things rather than look over the good things that were happening to them. That is what Steinbeck wanted readers to realize is people really did not think like they usually would during a time like this. This book symbolizes the depression and the perservierence of the men, women, and children that had to go through this tough, hard, time. The setting in this book was not only a hard time, but it was also a tough time to work in.

Bibliography

Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2002. Print.